September 22, 2022

By Adamo Marinelli

Carleton University

OTTAWA - Team Navy and Team Black went back and forth all game but settled for a 6-6 tie in a wild finish in the first game on day three of the Canadian Futures Showcase at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park.

“I thought we played a great game. We kept it simple, didn’t overthink anything and we were excellent on the mound and defensively,” said Team Black third baseman Evan Deringer (Regina, Sask.), who won Player of the Game after a two-hit performance. He also scored a run and knocked in another.

“I’m happy to have been selected to be here and to perform the best I can in front of all the scouts, but we played a great team game, that’s the most important thing,” Deringer said.

Rick Johnston, an assistant coach for Team Black thought his team executed well on both sides of the ball.

“The guys played well today, showed off their skills, and we got a good result,” Johnston said.

Team Navy struggled to get their offence going early, failing to score a run in the first two innings mainly as a result of a strong performance from Team Black’s starting pitcher Tate Carey (Windsor, Ont.), who struck out three and didn’t allow a hit in two scoreless innings.

In the first inning, Carey went three up and three down. In the second inning, two batters reached: one on an error and third baseman Adyn Schill (Toronto, Ont.) walked, but those were the only Team Navy baserunners in the first two innings.

“Carey’s very talented, has a big arm and has a large arsenal of pitches that are hard to go against,” Johnston said.

Team Black shrugged off their 8-4 loss to Team Red in their opening game and their offence got off to a hot start. Shortstop Ashton Graff-Rowe (Waterloo, Ont.) hit an RBI single and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Graff-Rowe then advanced to third base on a fly out by second baseman Lucas Laukkanen (Nanaimo, BC). Designated hitter Cardel Dick (Abbotsford, BC) then grounded out to first to drive in Graff-Rowe to put his team up 1-0 after the first inning.

Excellent infield defence and fielding from both teams kept the second inning scoreless and Carey continued his outstanding performance.

Team Black first baseman Matthew MacDonald (Kamloops, BC) grounded out to first base after a phenomenal effort from Team Navy shortstop Philip Cheong (Richmond Hill, Ont.) who lunged to secure a ground ball before making the cross-body throw to first. The inning ended on a double play when left fielder Jayden Gouveia (Mississauga, Ont.) struck out and Team Navy catcher Nathan Flewelling (Innisfail, Alta.) made a heads-up play to throw to second to catch Iyad Ansari (Stoney Creek, Ont.) attempting to steal.

In the top of the third inning, pitcher Sam Rambajan (Milton, Ont.) came on for Carey and Team Navy capitalized on his mistakes to take the lead.

Off the bat, Rambajan struggled to find his rhythm and the strike zone. In one inning of work, he walked five batters and allowed two hits and two runs.

After surrendering four straight walks, one of which resulted in an out after shortstop Maxime Boies (Levis, QC) was picked off while trying to steal second base, Team Navy was finally able to get on the board after a wild pitch from Rambajan which allowed Cheong to score to tie the game 1-1. Centre fielder Simon Baker (Cochrane, Alta.) who advanced to third on the first wild pitch scored a run for Navy to make it 2-1 after another wild pitch from Rambajan.

Team Navy starting pitcher Will Hynes came into the third inning posting relatively decent numbers but gave up a couple of base hits and runs in the bottom of the third and his final pitching line would include three runs (two earned) on five hits in three innings. He also struck out three batters.

A few plays after Graff-Rowe was walked, he scored a run to tie the game 2-2 on an RBI single from Dick. An RBI single from Benito Bonilla (Halifax, NS) then drove home Dick to give Team Black a 3-2 lead.

Pitcher Drew Lenehan (Woodstock, N.B.) came in for Rambajan in the fourth inning and pitched a scoreless inning.

Despite this, Team Navy came close to scoring after catcher Brayden Ricketts (Brampton, Ont.) hit a deep fly ball that landed on the warning track, earning him a ground-rule double. It was the closest the two teams would come to a home run.

In the bottom of the fourth, Deringer hit an opposite field RBI triple and Ansari scored all the way from first. Team Black took a 4-2 lead.

Lenehan started the fifth and struck out Tiki Braham (Mississauga, Ont.) on three pitches. After striking out Cheong on a full count, it looked like Lenehan had found his groove and had enough momentum to end the inning up two runs, but he gave up an RBI single to Baker which drove home Boies to cut their lead to 4-3. Cheong then scored to tie the game 4-4 after an RBI single from Eric Hartman (St. Albert, Alta.).

Lenehan recorded another strikeout to end the fifth inning and finished with four strikeouts, giving up three hits and two runs. Jack Ferguson (Otonabee, Ont.) came in for the final two innings.

Team Navy pitcher Jayden Bailey (Collingwood, Ont.) entered the game to replace Jackson Kornylo (Whitby, Ont.) and pitched two innings and permitted one earned run.

Neither team scored in the sixth inning thanks to some excellent pitching and defence. Two batters Bailey faced grounded out and he added a strikeout to end the inning with the score tied 4-4. For Team Black, Ferguson struck out two of four batters he faced and also forced a pop out.

Ferguson forced a groundout to first, struck out Cheong and ended the inning with another strikeout. Things didn’t work out as well for him in the seventh when he gave up two hits and two runs.

Baker got on base after an error from Laukkanen; Hartman drove him in with an RBI single to give Team Navy a 5-4 lead. Hartman then stole second and the next batter, Ryan Stalony (Mississauga, Ont.) hit an RBI single to bring Hartman home to make the score 6-4.

Bailey had a chance to close out the game with his team up by two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Ansari singled for Team Black, then Deringer hit a double to advance Ansari to third and Gouveia walked to load the bases. Graff-Rowe’s RBI single then scored Ansari to cut Navy’s lead to 6-5.

Bailey fought back to strike out Laukkanen and Dick and was one out away from ending the game, but he proceeded to throw a wild pitch with the bases loaded and Deringer scored from third to tie the game 6-6.

Bonilla then walked to the plate with the bases loaded and a chance to win the game, but he popped out to second base, and the game ended in a 6-6 tie.

Team Black outhit Navy 11-6, but had four errors, Navy only had one.

Deringer was proud of his team’s resiliency to rally from two runs down to tie the game.

Johnston was more focused on the athletes than the results.

“Win or lose, it’s all about the kids, who are trying to perform to the best of their ability and put their best foot forward for this big showcase,” Johnston said. “I love to see them succeed and I hope that when every athlete’s opportunity arises at this showcase, they make the best of it.”